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Tiger (P)
The Tiger (P) (commonly known as Porsche Tiger, while its official designation was VK 4501) was an unsuccessful German heavy tank prototype that lost against what would become the succesful Tiger I tank. A bit of history While work on heavy tank designs had already started before the war, only after the Battle of France (and the problems met when facing such heavily-armored opponents like the French Char B1 bis or the Matilda did the German Army decide that it needed a tank capable of outperforming those designs. Subsequently, on May 1941, a request was made for a 45-tonne tank that was to be fitted with a Krupp turret; both the Henschel and ' Porsche' firms submitted redesigns of earlier medium tank proposals (respectively the VK 3001 (H) and the VK 3001 (P)); such projects were expedited after the start of Operation Barbarossa, and the encounter with the well-protected Soviet tanks (such as the KV series) that increased the need for a tank armed with the superlative 88 mm KwK 36 gun capable of defeating them. The Porsche prototype shared many characteristic with its Henschel cousin, notably the armament and the armor protection (100 mm of frontal armor, albeit unsloped), being recognizable thanks to its turret being mounted forwards on the hull. Unfortunately, it relied on a complicated gasoline generator hybrid power unit which proved to be furiously unreliable, requiring constant maintenance to keep on functioning; this, coupled with reduced maneuverability compared to the Henschel prototype, led to the latter being accepted for production as the Tiger heavy tank, and the dropping of the Porsche design, of which only five prototypes were completed (three being later transformed into recovery vehicles). Roughly one hundred of chassis built awaiting an order were later reused to create a new tank destroyer sporting the powerful 88 mm PaK 43/2 gun, which was named first Ferdinand (to honour its designer, Ferdinand Porsche) and later, after modifications, Elefant; this development proved decidedly more successful than the conventional design. Ironically, only one of the few Tiger Porsche prototypes saw brief service as a command tank for an Elefant unit. Other info A Tiger Porsche was found almost incidentally in the innards of Ooarai's ship, turning up when looking for Rabbit Team who had lost the way. Only before the finals was the Automotive Club (responsible for maintenance and repair for Ooarai's tanks) capable of fixing it up. During trials, it showed its unreliability by getting stuck in the mud, having its engine overheat and then blow up all in succession. Still, given its good characteristics (especially its 88 mm gun, which Yukari described as 'stellar'), it was added to the lineup. The same Automotive Club members who had repaired it became its crew as Leopon Team. Despite being a last-minute addition to their force, the Tiger P performed remarkably well, showing both good resilience to Kuromorimine shots thanks to its thick armor and excellent firepower; it also showed reduced mechanical troubles, only acting up a bit during a chase and being subsequently repaired on the fly by Nakajima. It played a critical part in the match, as it blocked (even after being knocked out after a stubborn defense) with its huge shape the only entrance to where both flag tanks (Miho's and Maho's tanks) were fighting, preventing the other Kuromorimine tanks from intervening, thus giving Miho the chance to win. Tank basic characteristics Ooarai has a Tiger Porsche having prototype configuration. *'Armament' #Main Gun : 8,8 cm KwK 36 L/56 Cannon #Other : 2x 7.92 mm MG 34 *'Hull armor / Turret armor' #'Front : 100 mm / 120 mm #Sides : 80 mm / 80 mm #Rear : 80 mm / 80 mm *'Speed : 40 km/h (25 mp/h) on road, albeit with very unreliable engine More about the Tiger Porsche *Tiger Porsche *VK4501 P in the official anime (japanese) Trivia *'Tiger (P)' is listed to have 200 mm of frontal armor in many sources (including World of Tanks). This is because only 5 Tiger (P) were ever produced and only one of these ever saw combat as Command Tank. This led to upgrading Tiger (P) with additional frontal plate, fixed in front of the hull, thus giving 200 mm of total frontal armor. **'Tiger (P)' employed by Ooarai visibly lacks the additional plates, having standard 100 mm of frontal armor instead. *Despite being prone to engine damage easily, it was shown by Tsuchiya to be able to overdrive the Tiger (P) engine, giving more power and acceleration for limited time, doing "wheelie" and destroying the bridge after overdriving the engine (even able to outrun all Ooarai's tanks) Category:Tanks